Notes on The Fountainhead Themes

The Fountainhead Topic Tracking: Doubles

Part 1, Chapter 15

Doubles 1: Peter confesses that he doesn't know what it is about Roark that disturbs him; and the two men, neither one knowing what to say, are described as "facing each other, in astonishment, in resignation." Part 1, Chapter 16, pg. 192

Part 2, Chapter 1

Doubles 2: When Dominique and Roark first meet, she asks him how he feels every day after working in the quarry; when he responds, she realizes "that he was not telling her about himself; he was speaking of her." Part 2, Chapter 1, pg. 208

Part 2, Chapter 15

Doubles 3: Ellsworth, Keating, and Dominique are having dinner, and Ellsworth says that he is replacing his opposite, Roark: "Like the three of us-with me serving as understudy for the hypotenuse, quite an appropriate substitution, since I'm replacing my antipode, don't you think so, Dominique?" Part 2, Chapter 15, pg. 382

Part 3, Chapter 5

Doubles 4: Dominique visits Roark in Ohio: "She thought how strange it would be if she ever said 'Hello' to him; one did not greet oneself each morning." Part 3, Chapter 5, pg. 461

Doubles 5: While they are saying goodbye at the train station, Roark and Dominique are described as "facing each other for a moment, as if at attention; it was almost like a military salute." Part 3, Chapter 5, pg. 466

Part 4, Chapter 2

Doubles 6: When Roark and Wynand first meet, they both have a strange feeling, one similar to Dominique's thought that one does not greet oneself each morning. "Roark approached and sat down, and they did not notice that they had not greeted each other." Part 4, Chapter 2, pg. 516

Doubles 7: After their meeting, Wynand recalls, "for the first time in his life he had spoken to a man without feeling the reluctance, the sense of pressure, the need of disguise he had always experienced when he spoke to people; there had been no strain and no need of strain; as if he had spoken to himself." Part 4, Chapter 2, pg. 521

Part 4, Chapters 4-5

Doubles 8: Gail and Howard are described several times as "facing each other," as if they were looking in a mirror:

Doubles 9: Wynand remarks to Dominique, "Being with Howard is like being alone with myself, only more at peace." Part 4, Chapter 11, pg. 602

Part 4, Chapter 12

Doubles 10: Dominique and Howard feel as though they are one person: "He walked across the room he had designed for her, he sat down, facing her, the width of the room between them. She found herself seated too, not conscious of her own movements, only of his, as if his body contained two sets of nerves, his own and hers." Part 4, Chapter 12, pg. 612